


A Sip of Cinnamon Sparkle

by Vitamince



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Consoling, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, M/M, cin's like never been to a bar before, sparkling's just trying to cheer up this sad boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22437412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vitamince/pseuds/Vitamince
Summary: Cinnamon has a rough day and spends the remainder of it talking to the bartender about it.
Relationships: Sparkling Cookie/Cinnamon Cookie (Cookie Run)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	A Sip of Cinnamon Sparkle

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a disclaimer, I finished writing this at, like, 3 AM and I was super tired at that point. If the writing gets a little shakey near the end, that's why. Hope you enjoy it regardless!

It’s another cool, brisk night. That’s just how it’s been outside lately. The nights have ranged from cool at best, freezing at worst. The wind, while gentle, is doing nothing to help how cold it feels outside. Regardless, the buildings in town are safehavens from the cold. Warm, illuminating, inviting. One particular building on this block is more inviting than the others, however. It has a fine-looking exterior, but not overly classy. Big windows letting cookies see both inside and outside the building, but with a still standard door to contrast. A nice, big sign hung up above the door, and a smaller wooden chalkboard sign right in front of the store. Nothing has been written on it in a good long while. It’s mostly there for decoration at this point, or for very particular kinds of promotions.

At this hour, the building is mostly empty, save for a few cookies still sitting in booths among their companions, talking amongst one another. The murmuring heard throughout the bar and the quietly playing music over the speakers gives this whole bar a more homey atmosphere, and that’s exactly what Sparkling wants. A nice place, but nothing too uptight. It is just a bar, after all, not a country club. Sparkling himself seems to contrast this. With very finely styled hair, a white undershirt, black suspenders, and a quaint little green and red bowtie, he sure does dress well for “just a bar.”  
Some cookies are beginning to leave with others at this point, due to it getting later and later into the night. They certainly can’t sleep here… usually. It’s not common for someone to wander on in at this hour. As such, Sparkling is still standing behind the bar, using this time to informally close the place up. Wiping down the bar, cleaning out the glasses, getting ready to close up shop for the night.

And then, the door swings open. It certainly gets his attention, looking up from his glass almost immediately. In walks Cinnamon, still in his typical showman attire. Orange undershirt, cuffed at the wrists with red heart and diamond-shaped buttons. Plus some black suspenders, with a little top hat with an orange band to tie it all together. Sparking stares at the cookie as he enters, trying to get a reading on him immediately, as he almost always does right away. Gotta know your customers. His shoulders seem a little slumped. He’s not quite looking forward, but not at the floor either. This cookie is certainly troubled by something. He shoots the bothered cookie his golden smile, but the other either doesn’t notice or simply doesn’t return the smile. His lips slowly curve back to their original shape, watching as the other sits right down at the bar.

“Would you like-“

“N-no thank you.”

Sparkling purses his lips to the side, tilting his head a little bit. Something’s definitely on this customer’s mind. At this hour, he shouldn’t be too surprised. It’s around this time he becomes part-time bartender, double-time therapist for those who walk in. He picks up his shaker from under the bar, just in case he changes his mind later. He can already tell he probably will later.

“Ah, I understand.” He nods to the depressed one sitting across from him, now holding a shot glass in both of his hands and looking down at it. “What has you troubled?”

For once, the other cookie looks back up at him, making eye contact. A very very small improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.  
“Er, it’s... nothing. It’s nothing.”

The bartender can tell just by the tone of voice that it’s anything but nothing. That’s the tone of unease from a crumbled cookie. Regardless, he doesn’t press onward. After being here for so many years, he’s learned that some cookies don’t want to be helped or take offense to being helped up here sometimes.

“Nothing, you say?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright.”

…But while he won’t press onwards, he can sure try to get some kind of response or answer out of them, either slowly over time or indirectly. He shifts focus to what he can observe, trying to pick apart what’s seemingly broken inside the magician through words and questions.

“…You’re a magician, correct? Tell me about it, if you don’t mind.” That one little inquiry elicited a small reaction out of the orange fellow, making him break eye contact again. It seems he’s struck a chord.

“Erm… I… think I’d rather not.” Definitely struck a chord. Sparkling doesn’t respond for a few moments, instead opting to see if he continues to talk. And he does.

“It’s just that… I feel like… um…”

Without even asking, Sparkling starts to pour the other a drink. Nothing too hard, but just something to soothe the nerves a little. He pours it into a small glass and puts it next to him as he continues to talk. Just in case he needs it.

“I feel like… sometimes my work isn’t really appreciated. I pull out my best tricks, the ones that always amaze and entrance! Oh, the looks on their faces sometimes… But sometimes, the crowd isn’t too pleased. Sometimes they just…” He can tell that the more he gets to talking about what happened, the more he seems to get all choked up. The more he talks about how he ‘amazes and entrances,’ the higher he seems to get emotionally. Makes sense. Before he can destroy himself by talking about his problems out loud, Sparkling stops him.

“Hold on a moment. You like to wow the crowd, hm? What’s always a crowd pleaser for you?”

“…Oh! Well, it kinda depends on the crowd. The younger ones always love the rabbit in the hat. That trick’s so old, but it still always gets ‘em so excited, heh… The older ones, though…”

“Mm?”

“Well…” He stops holding that shot glass he’s been idly rubbing for most of this time, now opting to hold it in one hand. He waves his other hand up, towards the glass, and moves it across his other hand, blocking it for a moment. When Sparkling can see it again, the magician’s hand is a fist. He opens his hand, revealing nothing in his palm. For a trick that’s not flashy at all, the bartender is impressed with it regardless.

“....Vanishing acts! They’re always so interested in seeing things… go away. Right before their very eyes!”

“Right, right. How’d you even do that? That was one of my own glasses, not… a fake one or anything. And you just made it vanish. How…”

“A magician never tells his secrets, of course!”

“...Will I see that glass again?”

“-Uh, probably. At some point.” It seems Cinnamon isn’t even exactly certain of where it went. Good at magic, but maybe not the best at following through, or… the reverse of clean-up, whatever that is. Cinnamon gives a little chuckle at his own reply, and Sparkling gives one in return. It’s nice to see him cheering up a little. But the customer’s joy seems to fade away quickly after that before he resumes speaking.

“But like I was saying, sometimes I don’t feel appreciated. Earlier today, I was preforming for some kids. Kids love magic! But they were just… rotten. Sorry if that’s mean-

“I believe it.”

“…Aha, thanks. Anyway, they were just being… little… mmgh. The whole time they were just booing at me and calling everything fake. Just being so… mean. I felt less like a magician and more like a jester, preforming just to be made fun of. Set up to get put back down. I just…”

He stops talking for a moment to reach for that glass the bartender prepared for him earlier. He takes a swig of it as opposed to a sip, and despite it not even being that hard, he still makes a facial expression that speaks on several levels to Sparkling. He almost immediately puts it back on the bar and has this expression just stuck on his face now, like he just downed something sour or wretched.

“Now I don’t mean to judge my customers, but that wasn’t even hard. You didn’t even down it right. Don’t drink often?”

“Eeh… n-no. Not really. I just came here to try it.”

“Feeling that low?”

“Well… I dunno. I’m not sure if I ever wanna get hit by a hard drink if that wasn’t even too bad, heh.”

“You’ll take on the stronger stuff over time.”

“Maybe. Still… it’s days like this that make me sorta… reconsider everything. Is this just a waste of time? Am I a joke? How do people really see me?” He looks back down again. He doesn’t seem to like delving too deep into this, and when he does, it’s not for very long. Regardless, the other pipes up, resting his elbows on the bar now and keeping his hands under his own chin.

“You’re great, I know it. You sure wowed me right away. They’re only kids, anyway. Kids are brats like that. Don’t get too worked up over that.” For some reason, that response didn’t seem to help. In fact, it seems it might have just made things worse. 

“But kids are sort of… my target audience, most of the time. I can do magic, but if a cookie needs real magic, they’ll go to Wizard or something.” Sparkling raises a brow, leaning forward just a tiny bit more.

“You can definitely do real magic. I just saw you do it. A real magician doesn’t know where he makes things vanish to.”

“I mean…”

“A magician that just puts on a show would say ‘it’s actually under my sleeve! Sleight of hand!’ Right?’

“I guess…”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re just as real of a deal as Wizard is. You’re just... more focused on entertaining.” That statement seems to have got a mixed reaction out of Cinnamon. While hearing that he’s on the same level as Wizard, also hearing that he’s “more focused on entertainment” feels disheartening. If certain people laugh on what he’s focused on, what’s the point? 

“Sorta like how you could probably be making better drinks, but you focus more on talking to your customers, right?” Sparkling tilts his head to the side a little in response, and Cinnamon retracts what he said almost immediately, sputtering and stuttering a little.  
“I- I mean, not like in a rude way!! I just mean, like, uh, you could be like, uh, better… wait, not like-!”

“I understand.” He thinks he does, anyway. “What you’re saying is we have somewhat similar goals. We could be greater, but we instead focus on something else that isn’t exactly the best way to use our skills.”

“Y-yeah, that’s what I meant! Not like you’re bad-“

“I know. I understand, Cinnamon.”

“…Sorry.” He’s got this flustered expression on his face now. His day just keeps getting worse. First he gets laughed out, then he accidentally insults the one person willing to hear him out. At least Sparkling doesn’t seem to mind at all. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Cinnamon lifts up the glass again.

“Sip it this time.” And he does so, not taking a big ol’ swig like he did last time. Sparkling can tell that it still is a little hard on him, but not nearly as bad as it was last time. Cinnamon shakes his head a little after the drink, slamming the glass back down. It wasn’t even finished yet, getting some liquid over the countertop. 

“But just let it be known, from your trusty bartender. You’re a damn good magician, we all know it. Just because some little runts are ungrateful doesn’t mean you're bad. I bet if you preformed here on stage, the cookies here would love what you have to offer.” Cinnamon’s eyes seem to light up at that opportunity. 

“Do you really think so?” That smile returns to Sparkling’s face, and unlike the previous times, Cinnamon returns it with a toothy smile of his own. He never noticed he has a tooth gap. Huh.

“I know so. I’ll set up a show for you.”

“Thursday?!” Wow, he sure is eager. 

“Thursday.” Cinnamon gets out of his chair almost right away. He seems very willing to prove himself to a bunch of drunk adults in a bar coming up here. He finishes his drink, makes that same horrible face in response like he did in the first time, swallows it down anyway, and puts the glass back down.

“You won’t be let down! I swear!”

“I already know you won’t.” That smile’s back. Cinnamon’s eyes are full of hope and excitement now. All he wanted all along was just the chance to prove himself, apparently. He excitedly grabs Sparkling’s hand and shakes it, like he just made some kind of amazing business deal. Maybe he sees it that way.

“See you Thursday!!” He almost dances right back out of the bar. Welp, guess he’ll be back Thursday. Sparkling grabs the glass, and realizes something…

“…He didn’t even pay for his drink!!”


End file.
